Two accused arrested in Bihar Dalit assault case

Patna: The police on Saturday arrested two of the 11 accused in connection with a case in which two Dalit youths were beaten up for allegedly stealing a motorcycle in Muzaffarpur district.

Muzaffarpur Superintendent of Police Vivek Kumar said raids are continuing to arrest nine other accused persons.

“As per preliminary investigation by the police, it was found that two Dalit youths were wrongfully confined and beaten up by some men. However, it’s not clear whether these men had urinated upon the Dalit youths as well,” Kumar said.

An FIR has been lodged in the case by Sunita Devi, the mother of one of the victims.

The alleged incident took place at Babutola in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday night when the two Dalit youths went there to attend a rural fair.

“As per the FIR filed by Sunita Devi, her son Rajiv Kumar Paswan and his friend Munna Paswan were caught on July 20 by Mukesh Thakur and his henchmen, when they were roaming in the fair,” a district police official said.

The two were locked in a room and later beaten up on the charge of stealing a motorcycle.

Thakur is the husband of Utri-Paru panchayat village body head, according to the FIR, which names 11 people as accused.

On Thakur’s order, his nephew urinated into the mouths of the Dalit youths, alleged the FIR.

Sunita Devi said her husband was also attacked and humiliated when he went to rescue Rajiv and Munna.

People at the fair intervened to save her husband, she said.

Her husband later informed the local police which freed both his son and his friend, and admitted them in a primary health centre, she said.